Susan Poag / The Times-PicayuneOil residue is seen on the bow of a Coast Guard boat in the Mississippi River Aug. 1, during clean up of an oil spill that began July 23.

If Coast Guard officials doubted the urgency to tighten regulations on tugboats, Tuesday's congressional hearing on the July 23 Mississippi River oil spill should make it clear that the agency needs to get a move on.

Members of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation grilled agency officials for failing to come up with new tugboat regulations -- even though Congress mandated tougher enforcement four years ago.

That's quite enough time to get new rules through whatever bureaucratic bottleneck they need to overcome. Yet subcommittee members still had to press Coast Guard officials just to get a commitment that the new rules will be released before the shipping season starts next spring.

Congress should keep the pressure on the agency and make sure it has the resources it needs to police the industry and help prevent another disaster like the July 23 collision. That accident spilled nearly 300,000 gallons of oil on the Mississippi and closed the river for days.

One of the vessels involved, the tugboat Mel Oliver, was piloted by an apprentice in violation of licensing requirements. And a deckhand on the tugboat tested positive for illegal drugs.

The new rules are expected to require regular inspection of towing vessels, which could have detected those violations before they contributed to an accident.

But as several subcommittee members noted, penalties need to be severe enough to deter the industry from taking shortcuts. Some members said the $2,000 civil penalty often imposed for such violations is hardly a deterrent -- and they are right.

Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Elijah Cummings and ranking Republican Rep. Steve LaTourette even suggested that those responsible for the oil spill should face jail time. After all, as Rep. LaTourette noted, regular individuals can be sentenced to jail for some drunk driving violations.

But sanctions also should be steep for the firms involved. The Mel Oliver and the barge that contained the spilled oil were both owned by American Commercial Lines. In the past eight years, eight people have died or gone missing in incidents involving equipment owned and managed by the firm, according to subcommittee documents.

And the firm that operated the tugboat, DRD Towing, had been involved in two previous collisions since 2004 in which it violated licensing rules.

Firms with such a troubled record should not get slaps on the wrist anymore.